Manchester United stars arrive at Lowry Hotel ahead of Derby cup clash

Jose Mourinho set to roll out big guns for Derby cup clash as Manchester United stars arrive at Lowry Hotel… while £500,000-a-week forward Alexis Sanchez bids to end scoring drought that stretches back to April

Jose Mourinho led the way as he and his Manchester United stars arrived at their Lowry Hotel base ahead of tonight’s Carabao Cup clash with Derby County.

United use the hotel – Mourinho’s semi-permanent home in Manchester – before every home match, and the league cup is no different this week.

The Red Devils are huge favourites to win the tie at Old Trafford, as Mourinho’s men come up against a Derby side led by Chelsea legend Frank Lampard.

Mourinho is set to make a number of changes from United’s 1-1 draw with Wolves, but he may leave Alexis Sanchez in the team as he bids to end his scoring drought.

The Chilean forward is yet to score this season, and has not found the net for Mourinho’s side since April – a run that stretches back 10 games.

Sanchez, Fred and Juan Mata were among the star names arriving at the Lowry on Tuesday lunchtime, while Anthony Martial saved a spud for the door staff at the hotel.  

Eric Bailly arrived in a red Range Rover, with Ander Herrera and Mata the other passengers in the car. 

Manchester United are struggling in the league with Mourinho coming under fire again following their 1-1 draw with Wolves over the weekend, so the Carabao Cup will be a welcome distraction.

The manager recently revealed his love for cup competitions, claiming to Sky Sports that he enjoys the burden of knockout formats. 

UNITED’S NEXT FIVE

vs Derby (H), Carabao Cup, Sep 25

vs West Ham (A), league, Sep 29

vs Valencia (H), CL, Oct 2

vs Newcastle (H), league, Oct 6

vs Chelsea (A), league, Oct 20 

‘I like the cups,’ he said. ‘I like the feeling of the knockout: you win you are in the competition, you lose you are out. I like that pressure and honestly I think fans also like it.’

The Manchester United boss knows a thing or two about cup competitions, having won the EFL Cup with the club back in 2017. He will also know the toll those competitions can take on a squad and will undoubtedly rotate for the mid-week fixture.

He admitted it’s a relief that he doesn’t have to worry about extra time in the Caraboa cup: ‘In this moment you don’t even have the possibility of, after a draw, playing 30 more minutes – you go straight to a penalty shootout which obviously is a 50/50 situation.

‘I think it’s good because no extra-time, no more extra minutes that we already have, especially the teams that are playing European competitions and especially when it goes to the end of the competitions – extra-time is really, really difficult.’

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